Daily Archives: 30/04/2014

We all have days where we feel stressed or low and what is important is to learn to recognise what is your normal ‘ups and downs’ and the early warning signs. For me if I notice a change that goes on for longer than a week then I would become more watchful and mindful. These changes might be in my:

Mood/feelings

Thoughts/beliefs

Sleep pattern

Eating habits

Personal care

Socialising/relationships

There are some life events that we cannot control and we have to learn to live with them without falling prey to the drinker’s reflex of picking up a drink to cope. This is not always easy but the longer time goes on the easier I find it to not resort to this old coping strategy.

Things to consider would include:

New job/promotion/redundancy

Moving house/leaving home

Relationship/friendships/family – loss/divorce/death

Holidays/social events/outings

Birthdays/anniversaries/Christmas/New Year

Health issues

Major news events

You can reduce your risk of relapse by:

Changing the things you can change

Learning to recognise your sources of stress

Learning better ways of coping with the things you can’t change

Are there any other life events that are stressful that I’ve forgotten that I need to watch out for too?